The Arrival ( Deconstructed )
The Arrival seriously knows how to engage the audience , even though they try to jump back and forth - it just strengthen their linear narrative. A subtler, contemplative Back to the Future.
The aliens landed in 12 locations and they need help, as usual human beings are so afraid and territorial, protective and wanting to take care of their own interest, decided to go ultra defensive. The aliens wants to give the humans to understand their language so in the future - in return the humans will help them in the future and with the US army led by King of Scotland, linguist Amy Adams and Hawkeye - come unto the picture to investigate.
the problem now is that the aliens cant speak English and explain.So they spread ink on the air. They communicate using visuals. So after awhile - Amy Adams describe the alien doodles as Nonlinear Orthography.
Non linear means it's not arranged in a straight line while Orthography means conventional spelling system of a language.
ABCDEFGHIJKLOM............linear right
AFTHGHZYK.............not linear.
So when the aliens threw the symbol - It means it doesnt move forward or take time. When we write, we will start writing on left to right. We take space on the paper.
Like this.
voila.....
So do they think that way too? So Amy Adams and rest took ( i dont know how many months ) to decipher and "surprisingly" painstakingly creating a whole new vocabs, meanings to create sentences in order to communicate these artistic octopus - to get hold what the aliens wants.
mind you...not only the aliens are the only one converse in this sort of language where it doesnt move forward and timeless. The Southeast Asia culture and tradition already practiced this. They dont talk or write 15000 words that takes up 300 pages about immortality, beauty or infinity but in one single space.
Its summed by symbolism. So what is symbolism? Let me show you here.
for example arabesque.
tibetan mandala
easiest is yin and yang.
Looks simple right? it sums everything under the universe. Such as male, female, sun rise, sun-set, hot,cold, life - death and etc. Multiple meanings in a singular image.
cool right?
Bear in mind, symbolism is different than sign.
This is sign - meaning everyone ( datuk, nenek you, everyone breathing knows what is this. )
Symbolism requires alot of reading, decoding and deciphering to understand what they wants to say.
Dont get me wrong, i dig The Arrival, the film-makers placed Amy Adams as a linguist here where she can translate virtually everything using words and sound. But the aliens here communicate using symbols. Words and visuals works differently. The only thing that is a little bit far-fetched is seeing them able to create a whole dictionary of meaning, vocabs, vowels for each symbols they got from Abbot and Costello. ( exactly like making sense from a baby )
when a baby screams its either they are hungry, wants affection, sleepy or simply moody. They used body language.
in the process of learning the alien language, Amy Adams perception and understanding changes, she got glimpses random future events of her life and notable clues to help her in the present time. So at the mean time - all the 12 locations where the alien landed, respective governments already dispatched their scientists and China is the first one able to break the code. ( Maybe the Chinese got this first due to their vast understanding of symbolism )
the aliens wants help by giving humanity to understand their language. So in the future, humans able to help them.But Amy Adams and geng translated it as USE WEAPON. This causes havoc, we have every country cut off their communication and China decided to go offensive due to this translation.
So everyone panic - Amy Adams and her newfound perception and glimpses of the future able to get hold the Chinese general ( even his private phone number ), calming him down by telling his wife dying wife's words and rest of world to find a way to work.
Just like Interstellar, where future Cooper guides and coax present Cooper to find the NASA base, leave earth and his daughter to save humanity. I totally enjoyed the pacing and matter of fact, The Arrival's narrative and execution is way way way better than Interstellar. Fewer characters makes everything easy to digest and mind you Denis Villenuve, you are one damn fine minimalist storyteller. Denis is currently handling the much awaited Blade Runner sequel.
when your film is framed by Roger Deakins - you cant go wrong.
so moral of the story, encountering anything that is new is challenging - plus could we open ourselves to this new experience which requires learning and understanding. All of this requires time.
The problem is we always say that we dont have time.
The aliens landed in 12 locations and they need help, as usual human beings are so afraid and territorial, protective and wanting to take care of their own interest, decided to go ultra defensive. The aliens wants to give the humans to understand their language so in the future - in return the humans will help them in the future and with the US army led by King of Scotland, linguist Amy Adams and Hawkeye - come unto the picture to investigate.
the problem now is that the aliens cant speak English and explain.So they spread ink on the air. They communicate using visuals. So after awhile - Amy Adams describe the alien doodles as Nonlinear Orthography.
Non linear means it's not arranged in a straight line while Orthography means conventional spelling system of a language.
ABCDEFGHIJKLOM............linear right
AFTHGHZYK.............not linear.
So when the aliens threw the symbol - It means it doesnt move forward or take time. When we write, we will start writing on left to right. We take space on the paper.
Like this.
 |
| someone took the whole A4 paper to write this |
 |
| good luck figuring this out. |
 |
| this is not a alien language, this is a coffee stain. |
So do they think that way too? So Amy Adams and rest took ( i dont know how many months ) to decipher and "surprisingly" painstakingly creating a whole new vocabs, meanings to create sentences in order to communicate these artistic octopus - to get hold what the aliens wants.
mind you...not only the aliens are the only one converse in this sort of language where it doesnt move forward and timeless. The Southeast Asia culture and tradition already practiced this. They dont talk or write 15000 words that takes up 300 pages about immortality, beauty or infinity but in one single space.
Its summed by symbolism. So what is symbolism? Let me show you here.
for example arabesque.
tibetan mandala
 |
| this mandala talks about evolution of life. |
easiest is yin and yang.
Looks simple right? it sums everything under the universe. Such as male, female, sun rise, sun-set, hot,cold, life - death and etc. Multiple meanings in a singular image.
cool right?
Bear in mind, symbolism is different than sign.
This is sign - meaning everyone ( datuk, nenek you, everyone breathing knows what is this. )
Symbolism requires alot of reading, decoding and deciphering to understand what they wants to say.
Dont get me wrong, i dig The Arrival, the film-makers placed Amy Adams as a linguist here where she can translate virtually everything using words and sound. But the aliens here communicate using symbols. Words and visuals works differently. The only thing that is a little bit far-fetched is seeing them able to create a whole dictionary of meaning, vocabs, vowels for each symbols they got from Abbot and Costello. ( exactly like making sense from a baby )
when a baby screams its either they are hungry, wants affection, sleepy or simply moody. They used body language.
in the process of learning the alien language, Amy Adams perception and understanding changes, she got glimpses random future events of her life and notable clues to help her in the present time. So at the mean time - all the 12 locations where the alien landed, respective governments already dispatched their scientists and China is the first one able to break the code. ( Maybe the Chinese got this first due to their vast understanding of symbolism )
the aliens wants help by giving humanity to understand their language. So in the future, humans able to help them.But Amy Adams and geng translated it as USE WEAPON. This causes havoc, we have every country cut off their communication and China decided to go offensive due to this translation.
So everyone panic - Amy Adams and her newfound perception and glimpses of the future able to get hold the Chinese general ( even his private phone number ), calming him down by telling his wife dying wife's words and rest of world to find a way to work.
 |
| “In war there are no winners, only widows.” |
when your film is framed by Roger Deakins - you cant go wrong.
so moral of the story, encountering anything that is new is challenging - plus could we open ourselves to this new experience which requires learning and understanding. All of this requires time.
The problem is we always say that we dont have time.
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